Thanks for the reply Robb. As it turns out, I can't get the little Airco to lay a bead. I spent a half day messing with it, no joy.

At first, the gas solenoid was stuck closed, a small "laying on of mallet" fixed that. messing with wire speed, gas flow and amp setting on the old Thunderbolt just didn't seem to make much difference, nor did changing contact tip and shielding tube. I even Teflon taped the tube and checked for the gas flow/leaks

I'm no stranger to small spool guns, but this old girl just dosen't want to play nice with the little Thunderbolt CC power supply. Again, I was told that it ran fine last time it was used (story of my life)

I'm no stranger to small spool guns, but this old girl just dosen't want to play nice with the little Thunderbolt CC power supply. Again, I was told that it ran fine last time it was used (story of my life)

You are on the DC side, gun (+) correct? There might only be one "sweet spot" in the settings the gun will function adequately at.

Well DUH, I just took for granted that aluminum would be AC. I'll try it in DC, gun+ There is no hi-freq start so I really don't expect much. Would it reach spray transfer in DC ?

It came to me with a full tank of Argon, so I have to "assume".

Way too hot right now to close all the doors and weld. (It's summer in SW Floriduh. 79° 75% humidity @ 0730, 99° 98% humidity @ 1430. Waiting for the 1600 rain, to cool off a bit ) cotton sleeves and a T shirt is too hot...

In most of my other excursions into the world of spool guns, I plugged everything in, set the amps a bit higher than I thought prudent, started with the wire speed on zero, pulled the trigger and turned up the wire feed speed until I got something resembling a bead. Slight adjustment of amps until the puddle quieted down and played nice.

Is this an acceptable method?

RED

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A 160 MPH drive, down a 2 lane blacktop, all by yourself, is NOT anti-social behaviour... I drag race because football, baseball, and golf only need ONE ball. Paul.